Vigil, Public Visitation Planned for Firefighter Killed at Trump Rally

Logan Check, left, junior firefighter, and Randy Reamer, president and rescue captain at the Buffalo Township Fire Company 27, hang bunting on the fire station in memory of fellow firefighter and Trump failed assassination victim Corey Comperatore, in Buffalo Township, Pa., on July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

A series of events have been planned this week to commemorate the life of Corey Comperatore, a firefighter who was killed during the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on July 13.

Mr. Comperatore, 50, was a 10-year veteran of the U.S. Army Reserves. He served in the early 2000s as the chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company in Sarver, Pennsylvania, and remained a member until his death.

At the July 13 Trump rally in Butler, about 13 miles from his home, Mr. Comperatore used his body as a shield for his wife and daughter against the bullets fired by a young man from the top of a nearby building.

A candlelight vigil is scheduled for 7 p.m., July 17, at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pennsylvania. Public visitation will be from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and again from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., July 18, at Laube Hall in Freeport Borough, according to the funeral home organizing the event. A large procession of potentially 500 fire trucks will also take place.

The funeral service will be private.

The office of Freeport Mayor Zach Gent, who has been working with local law enforcement as the borough prepares to host the public visitation and parts of the funeral procession, told The Epoch Times that it is not aware of any possible visit from the former president this week when asked if he might attend the funeral.

Earlier this week, former President Trump called Mr. Comperatore’s wife, Helen, to convey his condolences.

“President Trump called me to share his condolences,” Mrs. Comperatore wrote on Facebook. “He was very kind and said he would continue to call me in the days and weeks ahead.

“I told him the same thing I told everyone else: He left this world a hero and God welcomed him in,” she said, referring to her late husband. “He did not die in vain that day.”

The heartbroken widow revealed in an interview with The New York Post that her husband’s final words were, “Get down!”

Mr. Comperatore’s daughter, Allyson, has also taken to social media to pay a touching tribute to her father, describing him as a devoted Christian and the “best dad a girl could ever ask for.”

“My sister and I never needed for anything,” Ms. Comperatore wrote. “You call, he would answer, and he would do whatever it is you needed, and if he didn’t know how, he would figure out how.

“He could talk and make friends with anyone, which he was doing all day yesterday and loved every minute of it,” she wrote. “He was a man of God, loved Jesus fiercely, and also looked after our church and our members as family.”

A GoFundMe campaign on behalf of the Comperatore family has raised more than $1.2 million in the days since the tragedy.

The shooter fired several shots at the July 13 rally. One hit former President Trump in his right ear, while another fatally struck Mr. Comperatore. Two other rally attendees were also severely wounded.

Officials identified the shooter as 20-year-old nursing home worker Thomas Matthew Crooks, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, who former classmates say had been bullied at school. A Secret Service counter-sniper shot and killed Mr. Crooks seconds after he opened fire on the former president.